


life of the phoenix

by Flenser



Series: death of the phoenix [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Drabbles, M/M, Slice of Life, dystopian au, mentions of torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2018-10-15 06:33:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10551674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flenser/pseuds/Flenser
Summary: They stare at one another then, clearly at an impasse.  Daichi doesn’t know what else to do that won’t result in Suga digging in his heels even further, but he can’t let this go.  He has to know Suga is protected, that the one thing Daichi can’t bear to live without has a chance to survive if shit gets bad, and -“Please,” Daichi whispers.





	1. what's in a name

**Author's Note:**

  * For [downmoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/downmoon/gifts).



> I shamelessly stole [downmoon's AU](https://archiveofourown.org/series/582079). It's mine now! Neener neener!

“Ask him.”

“ _You_ ask him.”

“You’re the one who wants to know!”

“You want to know, too!”

“It’s your idea!”

“Boys!” Daichi barks. Hinata and Kageyama freeze in place a few seats down the table, across from Suga, who’s too engrossed in what he’s doing to even recognize they’re there. “At least let him finish his coffee before you pester him.”

“But we just want to know if - ow!” Hinata clutches his ribs and shoots Kageyama a murderous glare.

“What is it?” Suga murmurs, but he doesn’t look up. He’s reading an old-fashioned book that Daichi brought back from a recent patrol of the outskirts of the city, poetry or something by a man long dead. Daichi finds it tedious, but Suga’s absolutely fascinated by it, and anything that gives him a break from the neverending work in his shop is a welcome one, even if Daichi can’t make head nor tail of it.

“We have a question,” Kageyama starts, glancing nervously at Daichi. “If you don’t mind.”

“Hm?”

“We just wondered...Suga’s not your whole name, is it?”

“Oh,” Suga says, and finally looks up. “That would be strange, wouldn’t it?”

Hinata eagerly leans across the table. “What’s the rest?”

Daichi watches Suga closely. He senses someone sit beside him - Tendou, probably, that nosy bastard is always ears - and waits.

Suga taps a delicate finger against his chin in thought. “I’ll give you a hint,” he tells them after a moment. “I’m named for my mother.”

"What!" Hinata exclaims. "That's so weird!"

“Don’t call him weird, dumbass!”

Suga hums and looks straight at Daichi, eyes twinkling. “Oh, I don’t know. It makes sense when you think about it,” he says.

Daichi huffs a quiet laugh in relief; these boys are in for it now.

“What?” Hinata asks.

“Well,” Suga begins, “historically speaking, the only _sure_ way to determine line of descent without the aid of genetic testing is through the mother, right?”

Kageyama and Hinata look at Suga blankly, clearly not understanding where he’s going with this.

“Let’s just say, when a baby is born it’s pretty obvious which vagina it comes out of, but sometimes it’s a little less obvious which penis might have put it in there,” he finishes with a wink.

And that’s it. Whether it’s the untraditional idea or the logic or simply the fact that Suga said the word “vagina,” Daichi can see the exact moment when Hinata’s mind is completely blown.

“Oh, la la,” Tendou trills into his coffee mug. “Number Two has strange ideas.”

“You have no idea,” Daichi chuckles, and grins when Suga catches his eye with a mischievous smile.


	2. bone apple tea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I, uh...upped the rating a little.

“Suga, please hold out your hand.”

Daichi looks over just in time to see Suga’s eyes widen at the sight of an apple cradled delicately in his palm. It’s round, rosy, and perfect, and Suga’s eyes shine.

“I gave the rest over to the kitchen like we’re supposed to,” Kageyama explains bashfully, cheeks high in color, “but I saved the best one for you.”

“Thank you, Kageyama,” Suga breathes, and inspects it closely, as if committing it to memory. It’s been a while since any of them have seen fresh fruit, and Daichi knows Suga’s been missing it dearly.

“Go on, Suga!” Hinata encourages.

Suga smiles and brings the apple to his mouth and takes one long, slow, lush bite, and closes his eyes in rapture. It’s practically pornographic, the expression on Suga’s face, as he slowly chews and was that a moan? Oh, god, _it was a moan_. Juice runs down the back of Suga’s hand, a light, shimmering trail, and Daichi wants to lick it away, suck the sweet from Suga’s lips, and all at once he realizes he’s in a great deal of trouble. He shifts the tablet in his hand to cover his crotch and loudly clears his throat.

“Suga, a moment?” he blurts. He doesn’t even give Suga a chance to reply before he snatches him by the wrist and all but drags him out of the mess and down the corridor to Suga’s quarters. He pushes Suga a little more roughly than he intends toward the security panel next to the door and stands, so close, breathing hotly against the back of his neck, as Suga plants his palm on the scanner. The door slides open and they stumble inside, and as Suga turns to slap the door closed Daichi doesn’t notice the tiny smirk on his lips before he crowds into Suga’s space and fiercely kisses it away.

Afterward, when they’re both fucked out and basking in the afterglow, Daichi breaks the comfortable silence with something he probably should have realized a long time ago.

"I think Kageyama has a crush on you."

Suga grins and nuzzles his face into Daichi's neck. "And here I thought this was about the obscene way I enjoyed that apple."

Daichi's jaw drops in minute surprise but then he closes it quickly, because _of course_ everything Suga does is intentional. He snorts and cuddles Suga closer, sliding his palm against Suga’s soft, slender back in idle strokes. Suga hums, enjoying the attention for a moment, but then he suddenly sits up and fixes Daichi with a very serious look.

“It was a beautiful gift, but he should never do it again,” Suga says, and Daichi frowns. “You tell him that his thoughtfulness is one of the things I love most about him, but that I couldn’t endure it if he was arrested out there, or worse. I would rather have him than an entire orchard of apple trees. You tell him.”

Suga holds Daichi’s gaze so firmly that it dawns on Daichi that he’s not talking about Kageyama, that he somehow knows Daichi has been secretly tending to that tree for months now, and that Kageyama only happened upon it when Daichi didn’t lead his last patrol carefully enough.

“Then you also tell him,” Suga continues in Daichi’s ear, low, fingers tracing the reddened bite mark left on Daichi’s shoulder in an effort to muffle himself earlier, “that if any of those apples happen to roll out of the kitchen, I’d be most appreciative.”

Daichi groans and shoves a maniacally laughing Suga off the bed.


	3. but i'm a riot, mary, jo, lisa

“Brunelle.”

“No.”

“Brunetta.”

“No.”

“Brunette.”

“No.”

“Patrol’s back,” Daichi says by way of greeting and sets the crate of scraggly looking cabbages down on the bench beside Asahi. “Think you can do anything with this?” 

“Brunhilda.”

Suga erupts into laughter from under the sink across the kitchen. “No!” he cackles, and flings a greasy rag at Hinata. Hinata dodges it with a grin on his face and quickly returns to his place near the sink, wrench and tablet in hand.

Daichi looks on in mild amusement. “What’s going on?”

“Hinata found a list of names from around the world and he’s been trying to guess Suga’s,” Asahi tells him, peering into the crate. He picks out a cabbage and examines it, frowning. “He’s been at it for hours.”

“And he’s only on B,” Kunimi sighs.

“C’mon, Suga,” Hinata whines. “Give me another hint.”

“Wrench, please,” Suga says, and takes the offered tool from Hinata’s hand. “Hm, I told you before I was named for my mother...but I never said it was a _woman’s_ name.”

There’s a bit of a pause as Hinata fiddles with the tablet, then, “Aab!”

“No!”

“Aaban!”

“No!”

“Aabeer!”

Kunimi snatches the cabbage from Asahi’s hand and savagely cuts off the stem, while Daichi and Asahi share a long-suffering look.


	4. insane in the membrane

“How is he?”

Suga gently closes the infirmary door behind him and slumps against it, exhausted. They’re _all_ exhausted, startled awake shortly after lights out by the infiltration alarm, but it’s late afternoon now and while everyone else has been able to sleep in shifts, Suga has been awake and working throughout. Daichi doesn’t know how he’s still standing, but the bruise-like smudges under his eyes tell him he shouldn’t be for much longer.

“He’s fine, physically.”

“Physically?” Daichi asks.

“There’s not a mark on him, but he keeps going on about them being in his head.”

Daichi is immediately alarmed. “Did they -”

“No, I’ve scanned him twice. If there was a tracker I would have found it. Dai, I -” Suga glances at the door to the infirmary, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. “I think he was tortured.”

“What?”

“He won’t eat, he won’t sleep, and his stress responses are through the roof. He just goes on about his dreams and that ‘they’re’ - whoever ‘they’ are - in his head.”

“Do you need anything?” Daichi asks him. He’s at a loss.

Suga pauses and levels him a heavy, knowing gaze. “ _He_ needs a doctor,” he says after a moment. “A real one.”

“No,” Daichi tells him, firm. They’re lucky enough that Tendou managed to find his way back undetected, but Daichi isn’t willing to press that luck. The City Watchmen miss their prisoner and topside is literally crawling with them.

“Dai -”

“It’s too risky. Can’t you sedate him or something?”

“I’ve already given him enough to drop an elephant,” Suga mutters.

“What?”

Suga waves Daichi off while attempting to stifle an enormous yawn and turns to open the infirmary door, swaying a little. Daichi reaches out to steady him, and when Suga throws him a weary smile over his shoulder, he’s consumed by a wave of guilt.

“I’ll put feelers out on the network,” Daichi tells him softly. “And I’ll send someone to sit with him while you get some rest.”

“Thanks, Dai,” Suga murmurs, and slips inside the door.


	5. insane in the brain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tensions mount, and Daichi's had enough.

“Iwaizumi says you haven’t been down to see him.”

Suga looks up from the blueprints before him, large eyes bright but deliberately unreadable. Daichi knows this look, and knows what will happen if he doesn’t tread carefully, but he also knows that he can no longer afford to be awake all night worrying.

“I’ve been busy,” Suga says simply, and turns back to his work.

“Too busy to do what I asked?” Daichi returns, and doesn’t miss the challenging glint in Suga’s eyes when they snap up to meet his again.

“Are you pulling rank, Captain?”

“If I must.”

Suga’s eyes widen just enough for Daichi to feel ashamed. He’s never flexed his power over Suga before - truly, Suga’s independence is one of the things he admires most about him - but he can’t protect Suga all the time, and Tendou’s return has him more terrified than his disappearance. He thought Suga would understand, that his blanket order for _everyone_ to log additional hours at the range would be enough, but it clearly isn’t, and Daichi can’t believe Suga could be so obstinate about it.

“You know how I feel about guns,” Suga states flatly, and _yes_ , Daichi does know, but it only adds to his mounting frustration.

“So what’s this, then?” Daichi demands, gesturing toward the blueprints.

“Insurance.”

They stare at one another then, clearly at an impasse. Daichi doesn’t know what else to do that won’t result in Suga digging in his heels even further, but he _can’t_ let this go. He has to know Suga is protected, that the one thing Daichi can’t bear to live without has a chance to survive if shit gets bad, and -

“Please,” Daichi whispers.

Suga’s eyes soften, and just like that, the tension between them evaporates. He nods and holds out his hand.

Daichi immediately unholsters the pistol at his hip and holds it out to Suga by the barrel. He watches eagerly as Suga gingerly takes it by the grip and tests the weight of it, brows furrowed. It looks perverse in his hand - an instrument of destruction held in an instrument of creation - and Daichi hates that he has to put it there, has to taint something so lovely and kind, but he’d rather it be alive than dead, so he squares his shoulders, resolute.

“Here’s the safety,” he begins to explain, but then Suga turns his entire world upside down by flicking it off, performing a quick press check, and sighting down the barrel with practiced ease.

“What?” Suga asks innocently when he finally notices Daichi’s gawping. “Did you think war was unique to your people?”

Daichi perhaps shouldn’t, but he breathes a sigh of relief.


End file.
